Who knew there was so much to consider when it comes to drinking water?
I’m not sure I’ve talked about water intake on the blog. Probably because I have spent most of my life ignoring the topic and know nothing about it.
I recently made some changes to my nutrition and one of them was limiting my fluid intake to filtered water (I was loading up a little too much on Redbulls and hot chocolates).
And then, in a wonderful example of how the universe works, I got an email from one of my favourite podcasts Huberman Lab with his latest “neural network” newsletter, dedicated to, you guessed it, water intake.
I’m not sure how a neuroscientist ends up talking water intake, but I’ve found his previous protocols (on an admittedly diverse range of topics) to be useful and on the conservative side (i.e. nothing too wacky). That being said, I’ve not cross-checked his recommendations against a water expert, cause I don’t know a water expert!!?? You might like to contrast his recommendations against the recommendations on the Australian Government’s primary health website.
The full newsletter I bundled up in this pdf.
10 quick takeaway recommendations from the newsletter are:
- Water is key to maintaining healthy cellular function.
- Dehydration negatively impacts physical performance, alertness and cognitive focus.
- Aim to consume 237 mL of fluid per hour for the first 10 hours of your day.
- Drinking ~80 oz (~2.3 litres) in the first 10 hours after waking can help most people offset dehydration.
- Follow the Galpin Equation as a guideline for the amount of additional fluid you should consume when exercising.
- Increase the Galpin Equation guidelines by an additional 50-100% if you are in hot temperatures or sweating.
- Be mindful of how caffeine consumption increases your overall water intake needs, as it is a diuretic.
- For most people, it will be healthier to filter their tap water.
- Tap water with higher magnesium concentrations (ideally: 8.3-19.4 mg/L) is more alkaline and, therefore, improves absorption.
- There is evidence that more alkaline water can reduce inflammation and blood pressure and lower risks of cardiovascular disease.
For more of his newsletters on topics like ‘using light for health’, fitness, stretching, workspace, habits and more visit: https://hubermanlab.com/neural-network/
The water newsletter will eventually show up on that site as well 🙂